Sanctuary
by Phoenix To Flame
Summary: Nothing was meant of it and nothing came of it, but the moment itself was something to remember. KarenxArashi.


This is all SawyerRaleigh's fault. No, really. XD Cause she sent me a recced SeiSub and the thing inspired me to write this. I hope this isn't TOO out of character or beyond plausible, I did try.

Song quoted at the beginning and end is Sanctuary by Utada Hikaru, which is the song that I wrote 95% of this too.

I don't own X or Sanctuary, I merely adore them._  
><em>

* * *

><p><em>Sanctuary<em>

_ In you and I, there's a new land_

_ Where fears and lies melt away._

The music inside the building drifted out in unsteady patterns, large amounts of the notes lost in the transition between open windows and the edge of the porch. Arashi stood there, staring into the darkness, arms wrapped around each other and her chest, a shield more tangible then a _kekkai. _She let out a shaky breath, the cooling air of autumn cutting at her throat. She smelled car exhaust, and wet earth. She heard the eerily mournful sound of the wind moaning through the trees barely in sight in the deepening twilight.

Sorata's distinctive accent caught her thoughts for a moment, and she turned to look back inside. He was attempting to pull Kamui into some sort of spinning that could have passed for dance by a more skilled or graceful person. Yuzuriha appeared to be cheering him on and she thought she caught a glimpse of Subaru watching from behind his invisible guard, keeping everyone else out.

Arashi turned away from the bright sight inside, feeling cast out. Not that it was their fault, it wasn't a crime to play together, to forget the approaching threat, and the Dragons of Earth out there in the shadows.

The door opened, letting out a much clearer approximation of the song inside, some piece that littered the radio all the time, and the laughter of the three younger Seals. The faint smell of fire followed the person joining her on the porch. "Not going to be with the rest of us inside?" Kazumi Karen asked, her voice as warm as the fire that lay under the reach of her fingertips.

Arashi sighed, not wanting to be drawn into any conversations. She glanced at the older woman, hoping that she was at least half as good as Sorata for picking up her words without a need to say them.

Karen chuckled softly, moving to stand across the edge of the porch from her, staring out into the same darkness. "It is interesting, to imagine what might be in the shadows."

Arashi cast a startled look at her, to the other woman's amusement. "I don't mean the Harbingers," Karen clarified, warm humor coloring her tone, "Something more benevolent, like the _zashiki-warashi_, or perhaps even a _kirin._"

Arashi looked back out at the night, the calm darkness now punctured by street lights and the dim roar of cars. "_Kirin_ aren't benevolent in the slightest, Kazumi-san."

She heard the smile in the woman's voice, "How do you know this, Arashi-san? Have you met one?"

Arashi shook her head, heavy black hair swaying more than the subtle movements, "The price for one's alliance is always steeped in blood. The gift is not worth the cost." She frowned, "Nor is any power, for it costs more than it ever gives."

"I don't know if I believe that." Karen said thoughtfully. "Everything has a price, that is true. But many things are worth the price." The noise indoors picked up, someone apparently messing with the volume on the stereo. The other woman held up a thread of her inborn fire, watching it dancing on her fingers with an unreadable glance. "What would you be willing to pay to not lose someone you loved?"

Arashi's breath caught and stopped in her throat, Sorata's words flooding into her mind abruptly, and the promise he made, the price he accepted. "I-I don't know what you mean, Kazumi-san." she spat out, hoping that the sudden fear and rush of blood to her face remained unnoticed.

Either the other woman honestly didn't hear the tremor, or she tactfully chose to not mention it, for she simply let the silence take over. Arashi tried to calm her breath, stop the frantic rhythm of her heart, to mild success.

A car roared down the street, headlights spelling a careening path into the distance, and the wind fell silent in response.

"I...I cannot say what I would be willing to pay to prevent that future, but that I would not stay passive if there was something I could do to change _hitsuzen._" Arashi at last conceded, face uncomfortably warm in the chill of autumn. Behind them, the music changed to some different piece that she could vaguely remember Yuzuriha singing the last time they were out, and the girl joining in with the singer eagerly.

Karen smiled at her gently, "I would pay my power, and even my life to prevent the death of the man I love, because more people than I would mourn his passing." Was her answer, the words a deadly truth against an uncertain future.

Sorata's voice joined Yuzuriha's, happily mangling the words in tune with her.

Arashi caught herself turned towards that window, looking in. He stood arm in arm with a flustered and grinning Kamui, and Yuzuriha in front of the both of them, their mouths moving in time with the song. As she watched, Yuzuriha bounced to grab Subaru from his quiet corner, pulling him into the world that they shared for just a moment, to his fragile protests. Sorata grabbed Kamui's hands, pulling him into an unorthodox dance that still looked unexpectedly graceful to her. She heard the song stop, than start again from the beginning.

A movement caught the edge of her vision and she looked to her right.

Karen held out a hand, the smile on her face both welcoming and warm in the nature of candle flame, hot enough to heat, cool enough to not burn. The invitation to dance hung in the air between them like smoke.

Arashi looked her eyes, searching for some lie in the unspoken words between them, and found none. Cautiously, she reached out a hand of her own, across the gap that lay between her and the other Dragons of Heaven, and the doorway in.

Karen took her hand gently.

And then the world stopped spinning under its axis. She shut her eyes, and breathed, letting the fears that haunted her thoughts drift away like flower petals, if only for a short while. Her skirt spun against her legs as Karen hummed softly with the music, and guided her on the wings of a dance.

Their fingers caught, and tangled.

Arashi inhaled the gentle smell of some unnamed perfume that wafted between them, like the scented smoke of incense. Step after step, a circle, a loop. For a moment, she could _pretend_ that the world was okay, that she wasn't destined to be the cause of death for the man she loved, that she wouldn't fight to save a world when the lines of alternate destinies blurred and wavered.

Karen was a warmth in the shadows, a beacon through the darkness. The future was still uncertain, not all the loops had to be an irrevocable truth. She clung to the other woman, seeking that trust that she held in the tangles of fate.

The song inside ended, and the laughter of the others were a melody all their own. They stopped their movement, but Arashi did not let go. "...I don't want to see the future that offers no kind path." The words spilled over, like tears that she wouldn't shed. "I want to fight against a truth that no one should accept."

Karen said nothing, just held her softly. Arashi felt bare, stripped, revealed in a manner she didn't like. There were no shields against the dark thoughts anymore. The moment of peace she had reveled in was gone.

"We all do, Arashi-san." her voice rumbled like the embers of a slumbering blaze in her chest. "That's why I fight against the Harbingers, that's why I carry my fire with pride." Gently, the other woman tipped her head up, pushed her hair back from her face.

Arashi looked at her, silently.

Karen's fingers were on her cheek, almost translucent in softness, "It's alright to want to forget for a while. It's alright to choose to push something that you can't yet handle back for a day."

And Arashi's fears were lost on the way to her lips, not that she was capable of speaking anyway. Karen's lips were gentle, experienced, chaste, not asking for anything other than the one moment. She wouldn't say no to this space, this unexpected innocence.

Karen drew back away, smiled that imperceptible smile again and let go of her. "We should go back inside, it's getting colder than I'd like out here."

And with the hint of a playful wink, she had stolen away back through the door.

Arashi stood in place, fingers pressed to her mouth, speech stolen away by the confusing Seal. Then, she smiled to herself, shutting her eyes for a minute.

She looked out towards those shadows again and saw nothing within them, then turned back towards the door. And walked inside to join the others.

_My fears...my lies, melt away._

* * *

><p>Review please? I'd like to hear your thoughts on this.<em><br>_


End file.
